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This is just my opinion, and it's quite possibly wrong, but I think that "being ready" for D1 is really overstated. There are a whole bunch of really crappy little D1 conferences where the level of play is not that much better than really good D2 schools. And there isn't even the added pressure of guys expecting to be drafted. I know that everybody would love to work D1, but it seems to me that if you let a very good D2 official work one or two of these crappy D1 games a year, that would get him/her "ready" for a major conference sooner than going to camps or working even more crappy D3 ball.
My first D2 game (it was actually my first college varsity game, too), I was called in as a last minute replacement. It was a good game and I did (I think) a very respectable job, with one notable exception. Anyway, after the game, the R says, "So what was the biggest difference from your other games?" And I knew the answer he wanted, so I said "The speed". And it was a little faster than what I normally see. But that was not really the biggest difference. The biggest difference was the intensity of the players and coaches.
My point is that I think you can give a guy a taste of the intensity of D1 ball in a "minor" conference, without making him call a game that is vastly different in quality of play. This is not to say that anybody can work the Atlantic Sun or the Northeast Conference. But I think there's a mystical feeling about all of D1 ball that's just not justified.
Again, just my opinion.
Chuck
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